New Front Suspension

[Blue~Go]

200K on my springs and planning on many more miles.

But of course!

[markatherton]

Hi, my shop is about 2 blocks from Weldtec. I know Jeremy extremely well. I can assure you he will stand by what he has sold you. His work is top notch. I am very confident he will be able to "dial in" a kit which will work on chinooks in general. Unfortunately it sounds like yours is the ginny pig. Let me know if I can assist in any way. Mark in San Diego.

[Blue~Go]

That's reassuring - nice of you to post. And to offer local assistance. I'd be grateful if it were me heading west to get things sorted. (Need a "thumbs up" emoticon!)

[dougm]

Mark, i made the trip, over 3000 miles of driving and over a $1000 in fuel costs amongst other costs which i wont get into on this post. Unfortunately my experience with weldtec is far and away from being a good experience and at this point in time i would suggest anyone on this forum steer clear of their products. I have spent literally thousands of dollars and endless hours attempting to resolve this matter to the point i even drove the truck to their front door in order that they would have the chance to resolve the matter.......... I will make a full post at a later date to disclose the entire story to the members so that they dont suffer the same nightmare. Here is just one small example of the goings on.... to date i have paid 3 seperate alignment shops to attempt alignment on defective parts provided to me by weldtec..... weldtec installed replacement parts themself after i drove the truck to them, it was then aligned again and i was charged again by weldtec not the alignment shop, and guess what, the man that did the alignment came out of the shop to tell me that the camber is off by a full 1/2 degree on the drivers side and that it pulls to the drivers side because the I-beam is not bent enough... weldtec didnt care that i already had spent over $300 on alignments due to no fault of my own and completely destroyed a perfect $250 Michelin tire getting the truck to them, they installed new replacement parts that had the same defect and made me pay for another alignment only to be told the same problem is still there and that problem is that the I-beams are not bent enough meaning the truck can not be properly aligned..... i have not decided on a course of action at this time as i am dealing with family health issues with both of my parents and simply do not even want to think about this matter at this point..... i can assure you i will get remedy before its over because i have spent thousands of dollars giving weldtec the opportunity to make the issue right and at ths point they failed on a massive scale. P.S.... Jeremy was notified well in advance that i was bringing the truck to him (approximately 3 weeks in advance to be exact) , i also called him personally three days before i arrived at his front door. I will disclose the entire story and experience in a seperate post at a later date. But trust me a $100 alignment doesnt even begin to scrape the surface of this screw job... I went above and beyond what a rational person would define as reasonable in order to give weldtec the chance to correct the problems their parts created, i could have just as easily called them ranting and screaming, demanding my money back and compensation for my wasted time.. with that said theres absolutely no excuse for what went on at Weldtec over the course of two entire business days from sun up to sun down while i sat in their parking lot on a block of wood with my two dogs. You may also find it amusing that they destroyed the back side of both of my rear alcoa wheels by beating on them with a steel bar and a sledge hammer because they didnt know how to remove aluminum dually wheels that were stuck from dirt and debris. Thats just a teaser short story... stay tuned for the novel version, which will include such highlights as a ruined $250 front tire, bent ABS wire bracket resulting in ABS failure light at Colorado Springs on the way home and another $100.23 out of my pocket for a new ABS sensor wire account of the quality workmanship at Weldtec designs, requesting a new steering stabilizer shock be put on while the vehicle was still in the air resulting in factory bracket being cut off of the frame and a new one being welded to the frame without telling the customer first, employee throwing a fit like a 6 year old because the customer insisted the rear of the truck needed to be raised to match the front ride height to allow proper weight transfer and alignment, resulting in a screaming match with the customer despite the fact that the customer was paying the shop for everything they did to the rear of the vehicle, you wont wanna miss this one folks....!!! I spent right at 4 grand on this trip to weldtec, $1000 in fuel costs, Approx $1000 more paid to weldtec for the work on the rear and a worthless alignment, $1500 and some change for new tires in Colorado on the way home, $100 for a new ABS wire, and now of course im looking at replacing 2 damaged alcoa wheels, even though you cant see the damage looking at the front of the wheel, its still there and needless to say balancing them in colorado when i got tires was a joke... needless to say i cant keep the truck in my own lane when driving at hiway speeds on a bright sunshiney day so i wont even mention driving home threw new mexico in 45 mph cross winds and dust storm.... Go ahead and ask me if i would recommend Weldtec... on a lighter note, the young gal that works the office was quite nice and she enjoyed my dogs even though we spent 2 entire days sitting in the parking lot.... Jeremy may be under the impression that another satisfied customer came and went for all i know, since he wasnt there.... in reality i spent two entire days sitting in a parking lot with two dogs while a man that couldnt speak a word of english did what one would like to call "fixing" my truck which unfortunately wasnt the case, by the end of the second day after having my alcoa wheels ruined, my front tire ruined, my factory stabilizer bracket cut off, and a screaming match with the man in charge(a man who did virtually nothing all day other than pat himself on the back and walk around telling others how smart he is) about the need for raising the rear ride height, which should have been an hour and a half job but was turned into an all day affair account Jeremy not being there.... i decided i wasnt about to stick around for a third day of bullshit and the destruction of my vehicle after getting the news that the very same problem still existed after weldtec replaced the I-beams with a different pair.... I have consulted an Attorney who advised me there is valid grounds for litigation, however lawyers dont work for free so i am still debating if i want to throw more good money after bad or just start over with someone elses products. As a side note if youre ever in El Cajon, California dont even think about boondocking over night at walmart, I arrived at walmart parking lot at approximately 8 PM and i was exhausted, i immediatley pissed the dogs and went to bed, shut my eyes at about 9 PM... at 0200 hours AM the cops were pounding on my back door and told me i couldnt be there and that i had to leave. With all of that said Mark, i simply cant agree with your opinion of weldtec, had Jeremy actually been there at any point perhaps the results and the experience would have different, unfortunately that wasnt the case and the results are what they are. If Jeremy wants to pay for me to bring the truck back when he is actually there and available i would consider it, but i wont spend another dime of my money giving weldtec the opportunity to rectify the problem, i went above and beyond reasonable and his employees wasted that opportunity. It was a 3 day drive for me to get there alone and a 3 day drive back... they should have been standing tall at the door waiting ready to work when i pulled into that parking lot monday morning bright and early just as i had told Jeremy on the phone... but that didnt happen, they screwed around for the first hour of both days i was there, now perhaps i could overlook the first day of screwing around... however when you have a customer sitting in the parking lot on a block of wood waiting because you have no facilities available for customers, wouldnt you feel an obligation to possibly get busy immediatley the second day considering your being paid by the hour? The fact of the matter is.. Jeremy wasnt there and he left an imbecile in charge of his business and the results of that decision are reflected by the damage to my vehicle and the fact that the original problem and the entire reason for bringing the truck to him wasnt resolved. I hate to bash on the place and his people but unfortunately thats the reality of what transpired. I havent called Jeremy yet to express my displeasure because right now my frame of mind is only going to result in outright screaming.

[chin_k]

This is very disappointing, Doug. Sorry that you have to go thru this.

[markatherton]

Very disappointing

[pdemarest]

Hey Doug - sorry to hear about the raw deal at Weldtec. When I read the repair/complaint columns in Trailer Life and Motorhome magazine I'm amazed at how bad RV service in general is out there. Over the years I've been lucky enough to find some good mechanics for my cars and even my boat but finding people who can work on any type of RV with any degree of competency seems to be really difficult. Hope it gets resolved and thanks for the heads-up on these guys.

[dougm]

I agree 100% PDA, and it seems that its not just the rv and auto industry, its almost every place you go anymore. For instance i went to wendys here in Lincoln, Nebraska 3 days in a row and everytime they screwed up the order. I always order the same thing, a number 2 with no cheese, the first time there was so much grease on the burger that it soaked threw the wrapper and the entire contents fell threw the paper bag onto the ground whle i was walking to my truck, the next day there was cheese on it, the third day i made it to the truck with the order opened the burger to eat and it had nothing on it, just two meat patties and a bun, no sauce, no onion, no tomato or lettuce, nothing. Another RV example is the last alignment shop i took the truck to prior to going to Weldtec.. they supposedly aligned the truck, the mechanic came up front with his work order for the boss and i inquired as to how it went and he stated shes ready to go, you dont have to worry about it wearing out those tires now.... and of course you know the rest of the story... after the drive to california the drivers side front tire was completely ruined. I do all of my own work however in this case it had reached the point where i wasnt willing to lay on my back in the driveway anymore changing parts that werent correct, so the only practical solution was to take the truck to them so they could sort out what the issue, after all the kit cost me $2600.

[Willywalderbeast]

Very surprised to here this about Weldtec. They lifted my Chinook last year (Baja Kit w/ custom rear leafs) and everything worked out perfectly. I dropped the camper off after a fun cross-country trip. I was going to Hawaii and rearranged my flights to land in CA instead of coming back home to pick it back up but it wasn't for two month after dropping off and Jeremy allowed me to leave it there at no cost for the almost 3 months it was there. The rig has since travels cross country 3 times and about 15,000 miles with no problem. When i picked it up there was a couple guys from a local firehouse picking up one of there rigs and dropping off another for some custom work from them. I chatted with one guy quickly and he said Jeremy does a lot of the custom work on their trucks.

Im not saying you didn't have a horrible experience, but I just wanted to throw it out there that I had a very good experience with Jeremy and the Weldtec crew.

[dougm]

I read your post Willy and that was one of the reasons i opted to get weldtec parts. I even questioned the guy jeremy left in charge about your rig. The only difference between scenarios is that i got the 4 inch kit not 6 inch and i wasnt able to leave my truck for 3 months.